The Yankees were already trying to gird themselves for a season without a ton of power in their lineup, and then Curtis Granderson stepped into the batter’s box to face the Toronto Blue Jays’ J. A. Happ on Sunday.

In his first plate appearance of spring training, Granderson fractured his right forearm when he was struck by a pitch in the first inning of the Yankees’ 2-0 loss. Granderson, an outfielder, is expected to miss 10 weeks, an absence that will extend into May. The Yankees’ regular-season opener is April 1.

“Well, it’s not what you want,” Manager Joe Girardi said. “We have plenty of time to figure out what we’re going to do. I mean, Grandy’s not a bat that you’d say is easy to replace, but we’re going to find a way.”

Granderson, a three-time All-Star who joined the Yankees in 2010, led the team last season with 43 home runs with 106 runs batted in. He started Sunday’s game in left field, part of an experimental switch with Brett Gardner, who played center.

“That experiment is over,” said General Manager Brian Cashman, who appeared dejected.

Kurtis Blow says: These are the breaks. I say: Good teams overcome them.

Hmm… Let’s see: It’s the 2012 offseason, you are an executive with the New York Yankees and:

The team has appeared in 11 of the previous 12 postseasons and won 1 World Series;
The team has a farm system that is a barren wasteland;
The team set a record for both: 1. the highest payroll in M.L.B. history; and 2. the lowest postseason team batting average in M.L.B. history, in the previous season;
The team is the oldest is M.L.B.;
The team has the highest-paid G.M. in M.L.B.;
The team’s starting catcher for the 2013 is undetermined;
The team’s center-fielder is 32 yrs.-old and hit 43 home runs, but batted only .232, struck out a franchise-record 195 times in the previous season, and is eligible for free agency at the end of 2013;
The team’s no. 1 starting pitcher is 33 yrs.-old, left-handed, and considered one of the top starters in baseball, but has thrown more pitches in recent seasons than just about any other pitcher in the game and earns a salary of approx. $24 mil.-per-yr.;
The team’s second baseman is 31 yrs.-old, has more talent than any player in the game, but is closer to Brian Cashman or Alex Rodriguez than Derek Jeter when it comes to personal character, discipline, integrity, and work ethic, is eligible for free agency at the end of the 2013 season, and is seeking a long-term contract of approx. ten year and close to $275 mil.;
The team had a $223 mil. payroll in the previous season, and must reduce its payroll to $189 mil. by 2014 so as to reset its luxury tax liability under a collective bargaining agreement signed in 2011.

Sounds like the perfect opportunity to rebuild? The perfect opportunity to replenish the farm system and acquire quality young starting pitching by trading Sabathia, Granderson, Cano, and others, reset the organization’s luxury tax liability, position itself for future free agent markets, etc.? Right?

Of course not. On the surface, such a proposition would seem to make all of the sense in the world.

But, it is “possible” that the 2013 team could make the postseason, just as the 2012 team did. And it is settled that once a team makes the postseason, anything can happen. Therefore, you do not “throw away” a season for such an opportunity. And its not as if this $208 mil. house of cards erected by Cashman and his “quant” shop could fall with just one inside pitch or injury to a key player, such as the center-fielder eligible for free agency after the season.

The second problem is that the highest-paid G.M. in baseball can not be expected to get equal value or quality young starting pitching in such a transaction, as demonstrated by his track record. Signing a Sabathia to a $161 mil. contract is one thing, but trading him at the age of 33, or others, and getting appropriate value for him is something else…

Hmm… Let’s see: It’s the 2012 offseason, you are an executive with the New York Yankees and:
The team has appeared in 11 of the previous 12 postseasons and won 1 World Series;
The team has a farm system that is a barren wasteland;
The team set a record for both: 1. the highest payroll in M.L.B.

{and a plethora of blah blah blah later}

but trading him at the age of 33, or others, and getting appropriate value for him is something else…